Chapter VI

) brought into the church an active man of great wealth of ninety-five years of age.

There are no blind persons. One old man, who suffered from cataract, lost an eye in an operation at eighty-five years of age; and refused to submit the other eye-ball to the surgeon. There are no deaf and dumb.

People on Quaker Hill are well-born. I suppose this may be in part due to the high morality of their fathers. I attribute it, in view of the contrast in this respect to the contiguous population in Sherman, Conn., to the highly organic communal life of Quaker Hill. Connecticut people, some of them of the same original Quaker stock, have settled on small holdings of lands, and held them till isolation and poverty have driven them to suicide, insanity or other miseries. Quaker Hill was from the beginning differentiated into a healthier diversity, and it has been the better for her people.

There are few mentally abnormal persons in the community. One may designate three persons as unbalanced, two of them unmarried women; and another such as probably insane, though residing at home. But even the aged do not die first in the head. There are no idiotic persons.

The prevailing morality is high. Very few would be classified as immoral, by the public disapproval of their conduct. Individuals have committed theft, or an act of cruelty, or adultery, in the years 1895-1905. They do not constitute classes.

The sociality of Quaker Hill seems to the writer relatively high. Response to a case of real need is prompt, wise and abundant; and common

## action for others is heartily begun and completed. There are no

unsocialized persons; neither paupers, criminals, nor degraded, in the community; at least no class or classes of such. There is a man who perhaps drinks too much and too often; but even he is too far from the saloon to attain to the dignity of neighborhood drunkard.

Quaker Hill has not been of a mind to contribute institutions or resources to the public. Toward war hostile, toward the state always impassive, sometimes actively disloyal in times of war, Quaker Hill has lived a life apart.

Common school privileges are offered to all in the three school houses at Sites 12, 43 and 101 (school districts No. 1, 3, 4) and the advantages offered are generally studiously appropriated by the young. In the ten years under study two families alone have been unwilling to take full advantage of the school opportunities.

In the school at Site 43, for which alone an improved, modern building has been erected, there was, beginning in 1893, a determined effort made to provide a school better than the ordinary country school. By the co-operation of certain farmers with children in school, and through contributions of citizens of means who had no children, better teachers were employed, at increased expense, for the space of twelve years. During two years the school was graded, employing two teachers. But the effort in this direction seems to have ceased with the close of the year 1905-1906. This school has had, for the years 1904-6, only one Protestant child, in an enrollment of twenty to thirty.

The other school-districts are maintained "in the old back-country way," their attendance is small and no effort is made to raise the standard of teaching.

It has been accepted for generations among the authoritative leaders on Quaker Hill that "higher education was not good for the poor." Of this doctrine, Albert Akin, generally progressive, was a firm believer. He insisted, and other representatives of the leading families have done the same, that "to offer them higher education only makes them discontented"; "they won't work if you get them to studying--and somebody must do the work."

It seems in strict harmony with this opinion, which I never heard opposed on the Hill, that Quaker Hill has never until 1904 sent a young man or woman through the college or university. Albert J. Akin, 2d, was a member of class of 1904 of Columbia University, but he was not born on the Hill, and never long resided there. Indeed, the town of Pawling has not another college graduate among its sons. There have been, however, a few who have gone to school to the grade of high school and no normal schools. In the past ten years ten young men and women have done so. One youth all but completed a college course in 1906. Two young women are just completing courses as nurses.

Personality is the field in which the conscious purpose cherished on Quaker Hill would have wrought its best efforts. But personality was always on Quaker Hill inhibited, restrained and schooled into mediocrity. Variation was repressed. Spontaneity was forbidden. Ingenuous spirits were firmly and effectively directed into channels believed to be harmless.

The result has been that mediocre people have both lived on the Hill, and gone away from it, in voluntary exile from its beautiful scenes, but not in exile from its spirit of plainness. No person of brilliant mind or of uncommon talents has ever come of the Quaker Hill population. There is not among the sons or daughters of this place one whose name is of lasting interest to any beyond the limits of Pawling. No artist or poet has ever ventured to express the intense feeling of the aesthetic which pervades the place, but has always been hushed from singing, restrained from picturing.

I think the end for which the Quaker Hill population have lived could be called Individual-Social. They are consciously individual, and unconsciously, inevitably social. These people have sought generation after generation for personal salvation and personal gain. "And that," says a resident, "that is why the place is dying." Yet the common interest was a logical corollary of the Quaker doctrine of God in every man, and therefore a community was formed, a community indeed which was no one's conscious care. In the chapter upon "The Common Mind," above, I have showed that all the leaders of the community as a whole, save one, have been outsiders, who came to see the integrity of the community with eyes of "the world's people," and these leaders in communal service have been grudgingly followed.

That one, Albert J. Akin, who founded Akin Hall Association, lived away from Quaker Hill, in New York City, the most of the months of fifty years, 1830-1880, and fell under the influence of outsiders.[39]

Indeed, a rare beauty characterizes these children of the old Quaker Community; and a fine harmony blends the members of the Mixed Community into one another. The type of country gentleman and lady was perfectly embodied in James J. Vanderburgh, who died about 1889, in his residence at Site 30. He was a good man, hospitable, large-minded, well read, humane; he was sufficiently reverent to be good neighbor to the Orthodox; and he was sufficiently wealthy to express the Quaker economic ideal. He had the Quaker genius of thrift expressing itself in bounty.

Mrs. Zayde Akin Bancroft, resident at Site 32, who died in 1896, was an example of the ideal Quaker Hill lady. A woman of leisure and culture, accustomed to the possession of wealth, and enjoying it in books and travel, she surrounded herself for several of her last years with an atmosphere, and secured for herself enjoyment, of the highest aspirations of the Quaker Hill economic ideal.

No one quite so much embodied that ideal as Albert J. Akin, who died in his hundredth year, in January, 1903. His fortune, which amounted at his death to more than two million dollars, was the culmination of the wealth of his family, acquired since his great-great-grandfather, David Akin, the pioneer, came to Quaker Hill about 1730. He was a far-seeing and brilliant investor, and through his long business life, which lasted until 1901, he followed the growth of railroads in the United States with steady optimism, and almost unvarying profit. After the year 1880 he came to live on Quaker Hill, in the interest of his health, more constantly than he had in the preceding fifty years. He at once interested himself in local enterprises, and Akin Hall Association and Mizzen-Top Hotel were at that time founded by him and others. Until his death, twenty-three years later, he was the leading citizen and the most interesting personality among this social population. Such was his place and so masterful as well as constructive his influence that it was a true expression of the feeling of all which one resident wrote at that time to another: "The king is dead, the man on whom we unconsciously leaned and whom none of us thought of disobeying, though only his personality held us to allegiance, is gone from us. And I for one feel that I have lost a dear friend."

[Illustration: ALBERT JOHN AKIN BORN 1803, DIED 1903]

These three illustrations will serve to indicate both the kind of persons who have come of the Quaker Hill community, and one of its tendencies. They illustrate also the spirit of the community toward its leaders.

Personalities of the austere type, men and women of the devotional side of Quakerism, may be cited in the cases of [40]David Irish and [41]Richard T. Osborn. The former was the last minister of the Hicksite Society of Friends on the Hill. His preaching covered the years of its separate existence, for he was made a minister in 1831, three years after the Division, and he died in 1884, at the age of ninety-two. One year after his death the Meeting was formally "laid down," in Oblong Meeting House, and from a place of worship it became a house of memories.

David Irish was austere. Believing that slavery was wrong, "he made his protest against slavery by abstaining, so far as possible, from the use of slave-products ... made maple to take the place of cane sugar, and used nothing but linen and woolen clothing (largely home-spun). This abstaining he continued for himself and family until slavery was abolished." Yet "he never felt free," continues his daughter and biographer, "to join with anti-slavery societies outside his own, believing that by so doing he might compromise some of his testimonies." He welcomed in his home the fugitive slave fleeing from the South, and "there must never be any distinction made in the family on account of his color; he sat at the same table and was treated as an equal."

David Irish was equally opposed to war, and to capital punishment. He wrote, "testified" and "suffered" for these principles. "In the time of the Civil War he allowed his cattle to be sold by the tax-collector, not feeling free to pay the direct war-tax." His biographer enumerates further his hospitality, his fondness for books, his humor, and mentions with a pride characteristic of the Quaker that he "was often entrusted with the settlement of estates, showing the esteem in which his business capacity and integrity were held by the community."

Richard T. Osborn was the Elder of the Orthodox branch of the Friends during the same period, subsequent to the Division, as that covered by David Irish's life. Born in 1816, he was conversant as a child with the period of the Division. The seceding members of the Meeting met in his father's house and barn until the Orthodox Meeting House could be erected on the land upon which, at his marriage in 1842, he erected his house. Richard Osborn was "the head of his family." Strong of will, austere, convinced, he lived in the world of Robert Barclay and William Penn, and for years never hesitated to rebuke young or old Quakers or "world's people," whom he found violating "the principles of truth." A summer boarder who played a violin upon his premises was silenced, and the singing of a hymn in the Meeting House of which he was Clerk was once sternly "testified against."

But Richard Osborn was kindly. He had a gentle and appreciative humor; and about 1890 there come influences in the presence of neighbors to whom he was strongly drawn, as well as the constant presence in his house of boarders from New York; so that his later years were spent in a mellower interest in dogma, and an ever keener interest in the history of Quakerism and of the community in which he lived. His wife, Roby, was a Quakeress of rare sweetness and exquisite gentleness of character. Together this strong, dominating man and his gentle wife constituted an influence, while they lived, which held the community together, and disseminated their principles more successfully than if he had been eloquent, instead of terse, and she an evangelist instead of a meek and demure Quakeress.

These persons were conspicuous examples of the best social product of Quaker Hill. They were not famous, nor great. Their philosophy was one of self-repression and required them to reduce their lives and those of other men to mediocrity. Quaker Hill taught and practiced the prevention of pauperism--and the prevention of genius! The ideals of the place discouraged higher education. The leading personages distinctly opposed the offer of higher education to the young.

Therefore this community, which has been exceptionally wealthy for one hundred and fifty years, has done nothing for general education; and has not educated its own sons. As noted above, no person born on Quaker Hill ever completed the courses for a degree in college or university, and though the community has had for a century families with aesthetic and literary tastes, no member of the community has painted a picture, written a song, or published a book.

The personages briefly described above are named for another reason. Their deaths, with the deaths of certain others whom they represent, have brought to an end the period of Quaker Hill's history which I have called "The Mixed Community." The others who with them made up this group were Jedediah and Phoebe Irish Wanzer, Anne Hayes, Olive Toffey Worden, and six other persons still living, of whom four are past eighty years and two are very near one hundred years of age. This group of persons were the center of that Mixed Community. They possessed the actual authority which this population always has required in its leaders. The piety, the austerity, the forcefulness, the ownership of the land of greatest value, and even the available wealth of the community, were so largely possessed by this group that in the years 1890-1900, in which this group was still intact, its leadership was such as to unite the community and consolidate the whole population for whatever interests the leaders of this group approved. Of that period it was said: "Everybody on Quaker Hill goes to everything!"

With the death of those who have passed away in the latter part of the period under study the power of initiative has gone. New proposals are hushed. Variation is discouraged; the rut of custom and convention is preferred. And a subtle stifling air of the impossibility of all active purposes pervades social and religious and business activity on the Hill.

Religiously speaking, attendance upon public services have decreased by twenty per cent., while the Protestant population has only decreased five per cent.

In business activity reference is made above to the fact that the number of milk dairies has decreased from eighteen to nine, a decrease of fifty per cent. At the same time the largest dairy on the Hill which in the decade 1890-1900 "was milking one hundred cows," has for the years 1903-1907 "made milk" from only forty and fifty cows, although the owner has more land than his predecessor.

The population which now remains on Quaker Hill contains only a few persons of force and leadership, and they are no longer so grouped as to command. The majority have no ability to follow unless authority be an element in the leadership; and authority to command the whole community has not existed since 1903. "The king is dead."

[37] Descriptive and Historical Sociology, p. 541.

[38] S. P. died 1906.

[39] An analysis of the sources of Mr. Akin's leadership, written for the Memorial Service after his death in 1903, is of interest here, as showing the influence of persons upon him who were not of Quaker Hill ancestry or of Quaker breeding:

"In all the years he lived on the Hill he had to do with every movement and was in touch with every person on the Hill. He made himself a party to every public interest. When the building of the Hotel was suggested, he put himself at the head of the movement, invested the most money in it, and later obtaining entire control, deeded it to his Akin Hall foundation. When the library enterprise was broached, which has grown into Akin Free Library, he organized and incorporated the institution required, endowed it generously; later reorganized it, upon legal advice; thus accepting ideas from Admiral Worden, William B. Wheeler, Cyrus Swan, Judge Barnard, and others of his neighbors, and contributing his own patient and unflagging executive faculty. When it was thought best, in 1892, to continue the church services throughout the winter under the leadership of Mrs. Wheeler and of Miss Monahan, and the growth of the Sunday school and permanent congregation seemed to require the employment of a resident pastor, Mr. Akin acquiesced; at first as a follower, but steadily and increasingly as a leader, he identified himself more and more every year until his death, with the religious life of Akin Hall and Christ's Church. He was a good leader, for he confessed himself a follower in the enterprise which he was in a position absolutely to control. He eagerly availed himself of the suggestions of others, took a quiet and lowly place with entire dignity, and exerted without arbitrariness a determining influence.

"When Mr. Akin was about sixty years of age, he bought a residence in New York, and went there to live in the winters. He had as a neighbor a Quaker preacher named Wright, who was accustomed to come to Oblong Meeting in the course of the year. With him Mr. Akin had many conversations on matters of duty and worship.

"He began also to attend the Oblong Meeting in the summer, though the Sunday meetings were not at that time largely attended.

"Later when his residence was at Fifty-sixth Street he became the fast friend and devoted admirer of Dr. John Hall, who used often to call upon him. For years Mr. Akin was carried into Dr. Hall's Church; but after Dr. Hall died, and even before, he had ceased from that custom.

"The growth of the church on Quaker Hill, under the leadership of Mr. and Mrs. William B. Wheeler and Miss Margaret B. Monahan took strong hold on Mr. Akin's heart, and exerted over no one a more vital influence than on this old man."--Albert J. Akin--A Tribute, by Rev. Warren H. Wilson, Quaker Hill Conference, 1903.

[40] David Irish--A Memoir, by Mrs. Phoebe T. Wanzer, Quaker Hill Conference, 1902.

[41] Richard Osborn--A Reminiscence, by Margaret B. Monahan, Quaker Hill Conference, 1902.

## Part IV.

Appendices: Original Family and Church Records.

APPENDIX A.

A List of the Heads of Families in the Verge of our Monthly Meeting held on the Oblong and in the Nine-Partners Circularly taken in the 3 mo. 1760. (This date should be 1761. The Monthly Meeting directed the list to be made 4, 16, 1761.[42])

1st At New Milford Dobson Wheeler and his Wife Aaron Benedick and his Wife Joseph Ferriss Gaius Talcott James McKenney Lydia Norton Anna Philips

2d At Oblong John Bull and his Wife Wing Kelley and his Wife Oliver Tyron and his Wife John Wing and his Wife John Hoag ye 2d and Wife Benjam Hoag and his Wife Abner Hoag and Wife Philip Allen and Wife Moses Hoag and Wife George Soule and Wife Wm. Russell and Wife David Hoag and Wife Ebenezer Peaslee and Wife Nehemiah Merritt and Wife Nehemiah Merritt Junr. and Wife Elijah Doty and Wife Henry Chase and Wife Abraham Chase and Wife Benjam Ferriss and Wife Timothy Dakin and Wife Elisha Akin's Children Reed Ferriss and Wife Zebulon Ferriss and Wife John Hoag, Senr. and Wife John Hoag, Junr. and Wife Jedidiah Wing and Wife Josiah Akin and Wife Stephen Hoag and Wife James Hunt and Wife Prince Howland and Wife Isaac Haviland and Wife Nathn. Birdsall and Wife Nathn. Birdsall, Junr. and Wife Daniel Chase and Wife Edward Wing and Wife Abraham Wing and Wife Israel Howland and Wife David Akin and Wife Jonathan Akin and Wife Joseph Jinnins and Wife Robert Whitely and Wife Nathanael Stevenson Joseph Hoag Abraham Thomas Isaac Bull Patience Akin Desire Chase Mary Allen, Widow Mersey Fish Margaret Akin Margery Woolman Dinah Gifford, Widow Elizab Hunt, Widow Abigail Gifford Phebe Boudy Ann Hepbern Sarah Davis Ann Corban Hannah Birdsall

3dly At Nine Partners Peter Hallock and Wife Moses Haight and Wife Aaron Haight and Wife Joshua Haight and Wife George Soule and Wife William Palmer and Wife Reuben Palmer and Wife Nehemiah Reynolds and Wife Peter Palmer and Wife Aaron Vail and Wife Joseph Haight and Wife John Lapham and Wife Jonathan Holmes and Wife Jonathan Hoag and Wife Israel Devil and his Wife John Kees and Wife Nathaniel Brown and Wife Anthony Arnold and Wife Caleb Norton and Wife Micah Griffin and Wife Jacob Haight and Wife John Haight and Wife Stephen Haight and Wife Micah Palmer and Wife Andrew White and Wife Stephen Hicks and Wife Daniel Tobias and Wife Ezekiel Hoag and Wife William Haight Joseph Reynolds Obadiah Griffin Solomon Haight Benjam White John Hallock David Arnold Nathan Bull Hannah Thorn Hannah Tripp Margaret Allen Rose Barton Sarah Collins Bersheba Southerlin Sarah Jacocks Ruth Mabbit Patience Green

4thly At Oswegoe Samuel Dorland and Wife Richard Smith and Wife Joseph Smith and Wife Samuel Hall and Wife Allen Moore and Wife John Thomas and Wife Lot Tripp and Wife Ebenezer Shearman and Wife Joshua Sherman and Wife Daniel Shepherd and Wife John Thomas and Wife Josiah Bull Zebulon Hoxsie Ichabod Bowerman David Irish Andrew Moore Joseph Waters Eliah Youmans Othniel Allen John Carman Jesse Irish Deborah Reed Martha Gifford Abigail Adams Mary Moore Catharine Leaven Mary Youman Mehetable Devil

5thly At Peach Ponds Samuel Field and Wife Elias Palmer and Wife David Palmer and Wife Samuel Coe and Wife Stephen Field and Wife Solomon Field and Wife

Additional names which occur in the minutes of Oblong Meeting, in the years 1742-1780 (obviously an incomplete list of members):

Akin, Nathan Fields Akin, James Akin, Timothy Birdsall, Timothy Briggs, Zebedy Brundige, Edward Bunker, Annie Chase, Johnan Chase, Phynehas Clement, James Comstock, Thomas Dakin, Preserved Dickerson, Isaac Dickerson, Henry Mehitable Devil, Devill, Duvall or Deuell Franklin, Thomas Falyer, Abraham Haviland, Daniel Haviland, Benjamin Hoag, Enoch Hoag, Samuel Hall, Joseph Hunt, Josiah Irish, Joseph Irish, Jessee Jenkns, Volunteer Lancester, Aaron Lester, Murray Laurelson, Aaron Mosher, Wm. Moore, Allen Norton, Robert Osborn, Paul Osborn, Isaac Peckham, Jos. Sherman, Joshua Smith, Denten Shove, Edward Stedwell, Roger Sweet, Elnathan Benony Sweet Taber, Jeremiah, married Delilah Russell Wanzer, Moses Wing, William Wing, Elisabeth Wing, Daniel Whiteley, Pardon Wood, Drusilla, married Israel Howland of Purchase.

[42] Correction of date is by John Cox, Jr., the Librarian of the Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends, 315 Rutherford Place; in whose charge is the original.

APPENDIX B.

The following are the names of those who had accounts at the store of Daniel Merritt, on Quaker Hill, in 1771, as the names appear in his Ledger:

Akin, John, Esq. Akin, David, Jr. Akin, Thomas Allen, Mary, George's mother Akin, James Akin, Josiah Akin, Elisha Akin, Stephen Akin, Jonathan Akin, Abraham Akin, Timothy Allen, Ephraim Allen, Alexander Allen, Moses Allen, Samuel Allen, Thomas Allen, George Allen, Daniel Allen John, Elisha's son Allen, John Taylor Allen, Elizabeth, widow Allen, Mary, Elisha's mother Allen, Mary, Elisha's daughter Allen, Elisha Allen, Sarah, George's wife Ashby, Anthony Arnold, Joseph Arle, Nath., II Ackley, David Arle, Rebecca Andras, Thaddeus Alderman, Elisha Arnold, Nathaniel Briggs, Edward Briggs, Jeremiah Briggs, William Briggs, Henry Briggs, Elkanah Briggs, Phoebe, widow Briggs, Zepheniah Briggs, Edward, Junr. Briggs, Jeremiah Briggs, Thomas, Senr. Briggs, Prince Briggs, Thoms, Junr. Briggs, Anthony Briggs, John Birdsall, Nathan Birdsall, Nathan, Junr. Birdsall, James Birdsall, Thomas Birdsall, Benjamin Birdsall, Lemuel Bennet, Benj., of Patent Brownson, Libe Bostwick, Daniel. Boult, John, Senr. Barnum, Timothy Benedic, Aron Bowdish, Nathaniel Buck, Lydeal, Junr. Bostwick, Daniel, Junr. Brown, John Bennet, Benjamin Barnum, David Buck, David Betts, William Birdsley, Johiel. Beardsley, Josiah Barnum, Zadoc Burret, Daniel Barley, Abigail Boult, John, Junr. Billings, Increase Brush, Thos., Esq. Bosworth, Nathanael Beach, David Bump, Stephen Bowdy, Nathanael Bennet, Henry Brush, Thomas, Junr. Beardsley, Nehemiah Boom, Sarah Burdick, Ephraim Brown, Joseph Burtch, Nathanael Bull, Abraham Brownell, William Barlow, David Bass, Thomas Burrett, Israel Burtch, Increase Birchard, Jonathan Beers, James Brayton, Gideon Burdick, Nathan Brady, William Bostwick, Ichabod Botheford, Joel Bowdy, Moses, Junr. Bennet, Richard Bush, John Newfair Bostwick, Amos Benson, Benj. Bull, Isaac, Junr. Barley, Daniel Brownson, Peter Bennet, Amos Birdsall, Lemuel Brown, Wm., schoolmaster Burdick, Jessee Brownin, Benj. Benedic, Abner Bracket, John Bull, Thomas Butler, Nathanael Butler, Truelove Buck, John. Bacon, Wm. Bradshaw, James H. Beardsley, Elihu Brownen, Wm. Batchford, Jonathan Batchford, Joel Brown, Wm. (Dover) Buck, Isaac Buck, Lydeal Burten, Oliver Bump, George Bowdy, Moses, Junr. Barnes, James Burteh, Jonathan Bennet, David Beemus, Thomas Brownson, Sarah Burtch, Jonathan, 2nd constable Burtch, Isaiah Bostwick, Robert Burdick, Robert Burdick, Ephraim Bangs, John Bruce, James Chase, Daniel, Senr. Chase, Daniel, Junr. Calkin, Elijah Close, Reuben, Senr. Close, Reuben, Junr. Church, Ebenezer, hat maker Congo, Joseph Chase, Henry Chase, Benjamin Corbin, Peter Covel, Micajah Cook, Thomas, laborer Camp, Enos Croch, Widow Campbell, Archabel Chase, Joseph Chase, John Chase, Nathan Caswell, John Clarke, Richard Conger, Jessee Conger, Joel Campbell, Dunkin Corbin, Sarah Conger, Joel Close, Gideon Corbin, Thomas, Junr. Cary, Rhoda Chase, Benj., Junr. Caswell, Reuben Collins, Amos Covel, Zacheus Caswell, Amey Carey, Lucy Caswell, Robert, Senr. Caswell, Robert, Junr. Cary, Nathan Cary, Rhoda Crowfoot, Gideon Covel, Seth Chase, Stephen Coller, Elisha Calkin, David Chase, Phinehas, Junr. Curtis, John Cook, Abial Chamberlin, John Chase, Elizabeth, widow Cummins, Isaac Calkin, John Doet, doctor Canfield, Zarobabel Crouch, William Churchel, Joseph Collins, Caleb Calkin, Simon Calkin, Nathaniel Cary, Lemuel Corbin, Thomas, Senr. Corbin, Sarah, widow Cummins, John Caswell, Robert Crane, Daniel Caswell, Nathan Coon, Matthew Chase, Abner Cummins, John, Ten Mile Hills Calkin, James Dakin, Thomas Deaveal, Joseph Dakin, Ruth Dakin, Timothy Dakin, Preserved Dakin, Wooster Dakin, Mercy Dakin, Simon Deaveal, Phillip Deaveal, George Deaveal, Hannah Deaveal, Benj., Junr. Deavil, Jonathan Deaveal, Abigail Deaveal, Michael Deaveal, Benj., Senr. Deaveal, John Deaveal, Abraham Doty, Elijah Dunk, Thomas Darling, Ebenezer, Junr. Dutton, Joel Dowglass, Thomas, Senr. Dowglass, Thomas, Junr. Dowglass, Jonathan Daviss, Paul Dowgleess, Dominy Daviss, Henry Daviss, Deliverance Daviss, Wm. Daviss, Benjamin Deen, Samuel Drinkwater, George Dolph, Edward Dwalfe, Ezra Dubois, Matthew Evens, John Elliott, David, Senr. Elliott, David, Newfairfield Elliott, Benj., Senr. Elliott, Benj., Junr. Elliott, John Elliott, David, Junr. Elliott, Jonathan Elliott, Daniel Edwards, Talmage Eastman, Joseph Eastman, Benjamin Eastman, Azariah Eastman, Azariah Eldeston, Joseph Eastman, Hezekiah Evens, Thomas Eady, Joshua Ellwell, Sam. Sen Eldridge, Elisha Ferriss, Benj., Senr. Ferriss, Benj., Junr. Ferriss, Benj., 3rd Ferriss, Zebulon Ferriss, Joseph, Junr. Ferriss, Matthew Ferriss, Zachariah Ferriss, Zebulon Ferriss, Gilbert Ferriss, Reed Ferriss, David Field, John Field, Samuel Finch, Reed Finch, Ebenezer Flint, Asa Franklin, Walter Franklin, John Fisher, Nathaniel Foster, Josiah Fuller, Jonathan Fairchild, Eleazer Fairchild, Alexander Giddings, Joseph Giddings, Jonathan Giddings, Zebulon Gregory, Samuel Gregory, Ralph Gregory, Rivevias Gregory, Jeremiah Graves, Jedediah Graves, Russell Gifford, Benj., Senr. Gifford, Benj., Junr. Gifford, Gideon Gifford, Joseph Gaylord, Ebenezer Gaylord, Benjamin Gaylard, William Gaylard, Aaron Gaylard, Phebe Griffin, Phillip Gillet, Hezekiah Gourham, Ichabod Garlick, Reed Gray, William Garrett, Thomas Green, David Halaway, John Halaway, William Howland, Azariah Howland, William Howland, Israel Howland, Prince Howland, Nathaniel Howland, Sarah Howland, Charles Howland, Cook Howland, Nathaniel, Junr. Howland, Peleg Howland, Samuel Howland, John Howland, Silvey Howland, Anne Hunt, William Hunt, Samuel, farmer Hunt, Stephen Hunt, Elizabeth Hunt, Abel Hunt, Daniel, Junr. Hunt, Timothy Hunt, Daniel, Senr. Hall, James Hall, Lewis Hitchcock, John Herrington, Moses Hatch, Maltier Hatch, Benj. Holister, Nathaniel Holister, Abel Holister, Jonathan Howard, Edward Howard, Edward, Junr. Howard, Stephen Howard, John Hoag, Lydia, Benj. daughter Hoag, Amos Hoag, David, Junr., carter Hoag, Abner, 2 Hoag, Samuel Hoag, John, merchant Hoag, Abner, 1 Hoag, William, carter Hoag, Timothy Hoag, Elijah Hoag, Abigail Hoag, Stephen Hoag, Joseph Hoag, John, merchant Hoag, John, 1st Hoag, John, 2nd Hoag, John, 5th Hoag, Ruth S., daughter Hoag, Enoch Hoag, Peter Hoag, Elisha Hoag, Sarah N., Benj. daughter Hoag, Ebenezer Hoag, Abbigail Hoag, Wm., Joseph's son Hoag, David, Senr. Hoag, John, D. son Hoag, Daniel Hoag, Paul Hoag, Tabithy Hammond, Jonathan Hammond, William Hammond, Samuel Hammond, Jonathan, Junr. Hammond, Benj., cooper Hammond, Mary Hammond, Elizabeth Happern, Anne Happern, George Hubbell, Gaylard Hubbell, Dennis Hubbell, Shadrick Hubbell, John Hubbell, Ephraim Hubbell, Eleazer Hubbell, Gideon Holdridge, Thomas Hungerford, Josiah Hungerford, Thomas Hungerford, Samuel Hungerford, Miriam Hurd, David, tailor Hurd, George, doctor Hurd, William Howard, Ruth Hill, Anne Hill, George Hill, Henry Hill, John Hill, Stephen Haviland, Dan Hill, Caleb, carter Haviland, Isaac Haviland, Susannah Haviland, Solomon Haviland, Mary Haviland, Joseph Haviland, John Haviland, Stephen Haviland, James Holaway, Joseph Haviland, Roger Haviland, Benj. Haviland, Jacob Hull, Daniel Hains, Solomon Hadden, Bartholemew Hendrick, John Haws, Edmund Hilks, Edmund Holmes, Thadford Hollister, Joseph Halms, Thadford Hart, Lydia Hatfield, Barns Hicks, John Hicks, Benjamin Hawley, Isaac Hillerd, Nathan Handy, Jude Irish, Joseph, farmer Irish, Isaac Irish, John Irish, Jedediah, Senr. Irish, Jedediah, Junr. Ingersol, Daniel Ingersoll, Josiah Jewett, Jedediah Jewit, Aaron Jewit, Isaac Johnson, John Johnson, Sabin Jeffers, Robert John, June, Jr. Joyce, John Kelly, Wing Keeler, Ezra, carter Kaysson, James, wheelwright Kane, John, merchant Ketcham, Elihu Kent, Seth Knapp, Moses Knapp, Moses Lake, Thomas Lake, Judah Lake, Thomas, Junr. Loveless, Joseph Lee, John Lee, Asahel Lee, John, Jr. Leach, Ebenezer Leach, Ephraim Leach, John Leach, James Leach, Ichabod Leach, Miriam Lee, Catherine Leach, Simeon Leach, Amos Leonard, Moses Leonard, Isaac Leonard, David Luddington, Henry Langdon, John Lester, Murray Lewis, Sam. Lamphire, Jessee Lamphire, Elisha Lamphere, John Lowrey, John Lancaster, Aaron Lum, Samuel Lacey, Seth Loveless, Joseph Martin, Aggrippa Martin, Ephraim Marten, Manasah Martin, James Mosher, Benj. Mosher, Daniel Mosher, Lavinia Mosher, Jonathan Mosher, Hannah Mosher, Mary Millerd, Phebe Millerd, Joshua Millerd, Joshua Millerd, Jonathan Millerd, John Phillips Millerd, Robert, Jr. Millerd, Jacob Menzies, Thomas Morgan, Joseph Menzies, Alexander Menzies, Thomas Morgan, Consider Miles, Sam. Marsh, John Marsh, Elihu Marsh, Eunice Morison, Malcum Marsh, Samuel Munroe, Sam., Jr Munroe, Nathan Mead, Daniel, Jr. Mead, Jessee Man, Sam. Man, Dependence Merritt, Nehemiah, Jr. Millerd, Benajah Munroe, Daniel Morehouse, John Mead, Daniel, Senr. Malary, Caleb McHerty, Mancey Marsey, Ebenezer Milk, Job McMan, Cornelius Noble, Asahel Northrop, Amos Northrop, Abraham Northrop, Salmon Northrop, Amos, Jr. Northrop, Johannah Northrop, Moses Northrop, Thomas Northrop, David Noble, Zadoc Noble, Thaddeus Noble, Stephen Noble, Morgan Noble, David Noble, Gideon Negro, Sip, slave Negro, Tone, slave Negro, Kajah, slave Negro, Jethro, slave Nicholas, Rowland Nicholas, John Nicherson, Seth Nickerson, Seth, Jr. Norton, Rowland Norton, Lydia Neerings, John Odle, Daniel Osborn, Jonathan, Senr. Osborn, Paul, potter Osborn, Isaac Osborn, Jonathan, Jr. Osborn, Amos, potter Osborn, Aaron Osborn, Stephen Price, John Peasely, Ebenezer Picket, Benjamin Pickett, Ebenezer Peasely, John Peasely, Isaac Potter, James Potter, William Potter, Judah Pepper, Stephen Parce, Jonathan Perce, Wm. Pepper, John, Jr. Pepper, John Page, Jonathan, Senr. Page, John Page, William Page, Lydia Page, Sarah Prindle, Aaron Prindle, David Prindle, John Prindle, Gideon Prince, Job Parks, Whiten Parks, Richard Pendegrass, William Perry, Sam. Perry, Rowland Prindle, Dan, Jr. Peasely, John Prindle, Samuel Pourham, John Perry, John Perry, George Parks, Daniel Penfield, Peter Platt, Samuel Penny, Ammial Phillips, Samuel Patterson, James Patterson, Andrew Penny, William Phillips, Mifford, Jr. Pennen, Wright Patterson, Alexander Palmer, Phinehas Putnicholos, Nathan Porter, Joshua Phelps, Barney Phelps, William Peek, Phinehas Peek, Samuel Prosper, Ichabod Palmeter, Silvenus Pearce, Nathan, Esq. Precinct by Andrew Morehouse Quinby, Ephraim Russell, Elihu Russell, William Russell, Margaret Russell, Samuel Russell, Elizabeth Ross, Zebulon Ross, Daniel Ross, Zebulon, Jr. Ross, Matthias Ross, Hugh Richardson, William Rennolds, Jeremiah Ruggals, Lois Ruggals, Joseph Rundle, Joseph, Senr. Stephens, Thomas Stevens, Benj. Stephens, Joseph Shaw, Phallice Shaw, Joseph Shaw, Benannuel, farmer Shaw, Benj. Stewart, Lemuel Stewart, James, Jr. Stewart, James, Senr. Stewart, Alexander Stewart, Alexander, 2nd Stewart, Samuel Stewart, Nathaniel Sweet, Ezekiel Sweet, Charles Sweet, Benedic Scribner, Abel Scribner, Abraham Springer, Richard Springer, John Scribner, Zadoc Springer, Elizabeth Sherwood, Daniel Stephens, William Sherwood, Nathan Stevens, William, Jr., carter Stillson, Nathan Stillson, Enoch Stillson, Moses Stillson, John Smith, Mary Smith, John Smith, Daniel Sprague, John Stevens, Peter Smith, Richard Soule, George Soule, Nathan, Jr. Soule, John Soule, Elizabeth Soule, Nathan Soule, Joseph Shearman, Benj., farmer Shearman, Jabez Shearman, Justin Shearman, Mary W. Shearman, Job Shearman, Joshua Stephenson, Nathaniel Stephenson, Nathaniel, Jr. Shelden, Isaac Shelden, George Shelden, John Shelden, Joseph Shelden, Gideon Shelden, Benj. Sheldon, Thomas Sheldon, Potter Sheldon, Sarah Seelye, Nathaniel Seelye, Benj., Senr. Seelye, Ebenezer Seelye, Eleanor Seelye, Abel Seelye, Bradley Seelye, Elizabeth Spaulden, Nathan Spalden, Samuel Spaulding, Abijah Sill, Elijah Starke, William Shannon, George Slocum, Abraham Sill, Uriah Slocum, Elizabeth Sill, & Bangs Slocum, Benj. Stephenson, James Shove, Edward Sturdevant, Jonathan Sturdevant, Nathan Sturdevant, John Sturdevant Esther Smith, Noah Smith, Gaius Starke, James Starke, Christopher, Jr. Slone, Sam. Salsbury, Sarah Salmon, Hannah Storker, Seth Seamen, Stephen Stedwell, James Stedwell, Gilbert Salmon, John Sweet, Benedic Sabin, Jeremiah, blacksmith Seaman, Moses Stone, Eathael Starke, Aaron Shed, Martha Sabin, Jeremiah, Senr. Shapparoon, Peter Stone, Ebenezer Thomas, John Thomas, Benj. Thomas, Abraham Thomas, Lewis Tripp, John Tripp, Experience Tallcott, Gaius Tripp, Lott Towner, Dan Towner, David Towner, Lois Towner, Sam, Senr. Towner, Mary Towner, Zacheus Thatcher, Partridge Taber, Job Taber, Hannah Taber, Thomas, Esq. Tuttle, Ebenezer Truman, Jonathan Tryon, James Tryon, Asahel Trowbridge, Seth Trowbridge, Billey Trowbridge, Caleb Towner, Sam, Jr. Trim, Moses Thornton, John Tayler, Nathaniel Tyler, Bezaleel Tryon, Elisabeth Ter Boss, Daniel Toffey, John, hat maker Terry, Peter Vaughn, William Vaughn, Joseph, weaver Vaughn, Benjamin Veal, Michael Wing, Elisabeth Wing, Elihu Wing, Thomas Wing, Gershom Wing, Edward Wing, Elisha Wing, John Wing, William Wing, Abram Thomas Wing, Prince Wing, Russell Wing, Daniel Willcox, Louis, laborer Willcox, Thomas Willcox, Eunice Willcox, Joshua Willcox, Stephen Willcox, Rebecca Willcox, Rebecca Willcox, Jeffrey Willcox, Handy Willcox, Isaac West, Mary West, Elijah West, Delight West, Aaron West, Clement West, Sarah, Clement's wife West, Benajah Welch, Paul Willcox, Mary Willcox, Antras Willcox, Sarah Willcox, Amos Wheeler, Enoch Wheeler, Joseph Wheeler, Samuel Wright, Samuel Wright, Kent Wright, Dennis Wright, Deborah Wright, Mary Wright, Uriah Wright, Abigail Wright, Samuel, Jr. Weed, Jacob Weed, Judah Wanzar, Moses Wanzar, Abraham Wanzar, Anthony Wanzar, Abigail Wanzar, Abraham, Jr. Wanzer, Chester Wanzer, Darkis Wanzer, Elizabeth Warner, Lemuel Warner, Oliver Warner, Orange Wood, Wilber Wickham, David Wickham, Phebe Wilkinson, Ebenezer Wickham, Gideon Whitely, Robert Wickham, John, weaver Woodward, Jonathan Whitely, Martha Weed, Jacob Woodard, Joseph Woodard, John Woodard, Elisabeth Woodard, Ephraim Williams, Daviss Wallace, Nathaniel Walsworth, William Wade, Jonathan Wallups, Jonathan Wheeler, Hezekiah Washburn, Joseph Woolman, Hannah Waldo, Jonathan Welch, John Wilkerson, Robert Williams, Marke Willmut, Lemuel Yates, Paul

APPENDIX C.

PACKAGE OF DEEDS OF OBLONG M. M. PROPERTIES.

Discovered 1906 by WILLIAM RYDER, of Brewster, N. Y.

DEED.

Zebulon Ferriss, of Oblong, to Benjamin Ferriss, David Akin, Ebenezer Peaslee, David Hoag, Joseph Irish, Nehemiah Merritt and Abraham Wing, all of Beekman's Precinct, Dutchess County, 5280 square feet, being 132 feet frontage on north side of road, and 40 feet deep, east of Zebulon Ferriss' acre lot. Consideration four (4) pounds. Dated, 4.16.1764. "Recorded in the First Book of Friends' Records for Dutchess County in the Province of New York, the 24th of ye 4th Mo. 1764, in Folio 89, 90."

DEED.

William Russell of Oblong, to same grantees, 40 square rods, being 5 rods frontage on north side of road, opposite Friends' old meeting house, and 8 rods deep. Consideration 8 pounds. (These two deeds seem to conflict as to direction and area.)

Recorded 4.24.1764 in same volume, page 87 and 88.

WARRANTY DEED.

Joseph Ferriss and Nathan Gaylor, both of Town of New Milford, Litchfield Co., Conn., to Dobson Wheeler, and Gaius Talcott of same town, Benjamin Ferriss, David Akins, Henry Chase, Timothy Dakins, George Soule, Abraham Wing, Reed Ferriss and Zebulon Ferriss, of York Government, land in New Milford "in the Common Field, by the side of the Great River at the south end of the Indian Field lots, a top of the hill East of the road, as goes to Danbury. The Meeting House of the People called Quakers' Stands, on the said land. We had it of Benjamin Ferriss and David Noble the quantity to be seen on the records and it all the Land we are possessed of on the East Side of that Road bounded North and West on the road that goes to Danbury, East on the River." Dated July 6th, 1762.

CONSIDERATION RECEIVED.

Acknowledged before John Hitchcock, J. P. Recorded July 7, 1762, in New Milford, 9th Book of Records, page 667.

DEED.

Nicholas Wanzer of New Fairfield, Fairfield Co., Conn., to "the society of people called Quakers," one acre in New Milford, with Meeting House, etc. thereon. Consideration 2 pounds, 10 shillings. Dated 11.21.1788. Recorded in New Milford, 16th Book of Records, page 484. This does not seem to be the property described in above deed of Joseph Ferriss, this being on the "west side of the Grate Rode that goes north and south through the plain."

Daniel Haviland of Southeast precinct, Dutchess County, to Joseph Irish, Edward Shove, Reed Ferriss and Wing Kelley, of Pawling's precinct and Elnathan Sweet and Joseph Lancaster, of Beekman's precinct and Benjamin Ferriss of New Milford, Conn., for the people called "Quakers," one acre and 70 rods, in South East precinct. Consideration, love of the Society. Dated 8.12.1782. Not recorded.

DEED.

Roger Haviland, of New Fairfield, Conn., to same grantees, one acre and 30 rods in South East precinct. Consideration, love of the Society. Dated 8.12.1782. Not recorded. This would seem to join the property given by Daniel Haviland.

DEED.

John Hoag, of Pawling's precinct, to Nathan Soule, Edward Shove and Thomas Haight, of Pawling's, 42 rods, on East Side of the highway in north end of Lot 38 of the Oblong. Consideration, love of the Society. Dated, 2.12.1784. Recorded in Oblong M. M. minutes for 2nd month, 1784.

DEED.

Isaiah Hoag, of Pawling's precinct to Nathan Soule, Edward Shove, Abner Hoag, Thomas Haight, Azariah Howland and Isaac Osborn, of Pawling's precinct, 1-1/2 acres in Pawling's precinct, for pasturing Friends' horses, etc. Consideration 10 pounds. Dated 7.30.1786. Not recorded. (Branch Meeting House.)

DEED.

Daniel Wing, of Pawling's precinct, to same grantees as above, 45 rods, for building a meeting house, etc. Consideration 5 pounds. Dated 9.18.1786. Not recorded. (Branch Meeting House.)

DEED.

Abner Hoag of Town of Dover, Dutchess Co., to M. M. of Oblong, 27 rods, adjoining the meeting house lot, "now called Branch Meeting." Consideration $7.50. Dated 5.21.1811. Not recorded.

List of Deeds belonging to Oblong M. M. 5th Mo., 1788.

VITA.

The author of this dissertation was born May 1, 1867. He received from Oberlin College the degree of A. B. in 1890, and that of A. M. in 1894. He graduated from Union Theological Seminary in 1894, and has since served as an active pastor at Quaker Hill and in Brooklyn, New York. While in the Seminary and also during the years 1903-1905 he was a graduate student in Columbia University, having especial interest in the lectures of Professor Franklin H. Giddings; to whom as to his associates on the Faculty of Political Science, he owes a debt of gratitude for a conception of the common life of men on the earth.